Equivalent Exchange
by Kimiko Otakuwa
Summary: Every girl in Lasitia must perform a coming of age task when they turn sixteen. But what happens when Kimiko's task is to be sent to Earth, and by a strange twist of fate she ends up in an entirely different world... Rated T for suggestive material!


Yay! My first FullMetal Alchemist fan fiction! I hope I make this fan fiction more interesting, long, and um.... er.... awesome? Yeah, something like that! ^^; Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST! **

* * *

_I stood at the crest of a hill, watching the hustle and bustle of a peaceful town below. I smiled and laughed, gripping the right hand of the person who stood next to me. I couldn't see who it was, but their hand was unnaturally hard, like stone or metal. I was just turning to see who it was… _When I woke up.

I let out a long sigh, disappointed like always. "Why can't I see who it is?" I asked myself out loud. "It's almost like… my dream was planned." I let that idea sit for moment, and then suddenly started to giggle. "Impossible. There's no such thing." With that, I hopped out of bed and went to get ready for the day.

* * *

"Happy Birthday!"

I stared at my mom, my mouth gaped open in surprise. "You're kidding, right? What's today?" I ran over to the calendar, not waiting for an answer. The 16th of August was circled over and over again in red, making it stand out like it was saying, _Look at me! I'm right here! Notice me!_

"Holy crap!" I squealed, jumping up and down. "No freaking way! This is AWESOME!" I shouted, hugging my mom. "I don't know how I forgot, but thank you, thank you, thank you!"

My mom and I laughed as we spun around in circles for a moment in the kitchen.

"Congratulations. You're sixteen," she said with a huge smile on her face.

"I know! I can't believe it! Sixteen, sixteen, sixteen!" I shouted repeatedly, hopping up and down. We stared at each other for a moment, and burst out laughing. I sat down at the counter with another giggle, running a hand through my hair. I felt like I was going to cry—with happiness. I'd been waiting for this day for months and could hardly believe it was actually here now!

My mom watched with me a large grin, and then stood aside to reveal a huge breakfast with all of my favorite items on it. "Of course ever birthday girl needs a special birthday breakfast," she said with a smirk. I jumped up again and hugged her.

"Thank you!" I said again, and carefully carried the plate back to the counter. Being especially considerate this morning, I asked if she'd already eaten, and she shook her head no. I shrugged and started to eat slowly, savoring every bite. My mom glanced at me from the corner of her eye before she grabbed her most current novel and sat down at the table.

As soon as I finished I let out a contented sigh, feeling very relaxed for about a minute—then I hopped back into the same frenzy as before.

"I sent invitations to everybody, right?" I asked my mom as I paced around the kitchen. She set down her book with a smile, a glint in her eye.

"I did more than that," she said slowly, knowing I was impatient. I stood stock still, glaring at her with an eyebrow raised. "I also reserved a party room at Costa Azul."

"You didn't!"

"I did," she said with a smirk.

I actually felt moisture build up in my eyes. "Thank you!" I said before I hugged her tightly yet again. She pretended to gag and gasp, but she laughed after a second.

"You're welcome," she replied with a large smile.

I laughed again, now more excited than ever for my birthday bash.

* * *

Music literally shook the room as we pushed through the gathering of people in the main room, heading for the closed off, personal room reserved for my birthday.

"WHICH WAY IS THE AZUL ROOM?!" My mom shouted at concierge at the front desk. He pointed down the hallway, which was lit up by blue lights. "THANK YOU!"

I sighed with relief as we finished pushing through the crowd, and we walked down the hallway until we came to a door that said "Azul Room" on it. I grinned at my mom, and pushed open the door.

"Happy Birthday!"

I jumped slightly, laughing and curtseyed to them. My friends laughed at me, and I walked up and hugged my best friend.

"So, sixteen years old, huh?"

I nodded and giggled. "I know! I can hardly believe it. Of course, I could hardly believe I forgot about my birthday."

"You forgot?! Wow, Kimiko. I didn't think that was possible."

"Well, when it's _your_ sixteen birthday, Mirana, I'm making sure that you don't forget!"

"Ha! I _never_ forget!"

I looked pointedly at her, my eyebrow raised.

"Okay, so I forget things occasionally… well, a lot. Okay, okay! I get it," she laughed as we walked down to a small booth where a few of my other friends were already sitting. I hugged them all once before I scooted in next to Valo, a guy I had a crush on. Mirana squished herself in after me, and I let out a little gasp of air. I turned to Valo, trying to hide my blush.

"So, um…" I started pathetically.

He grinned. "Happy Birthday, Kimiko," he said in his calm, quiet way. I actually did blush then, and he laughed. "Congratulations on reaching sixteen."

I felt an elbow jab into my side, and turned quickly to glare at Mirana.

"What?" I hissed at her. She raised an eyebrow, looking between me and Valo. I stuck out my tongue, and we both giggled quietly. I turned back to Valo, but he was talking to somebody else. I let out a sigh, and Mirana shrugged.

Suddenly the room seemed to shake, a menacing rumbling sound echoing through the room. I yelped in surprise, along with a few others. I turned to Mirana, my eyes wide.

"What _was_ that?" I asked in amazement.

* * *

Elsewhere:

The sound of whirring and beeping machines filled the room. The only light source was the giant screens that lit up the room. People sat at the screens, typing quickly and efficiently onto keyboards. One woman was sitting at the largest screen, her neat blond hair pulled into a ponytail behind her, purple eyes staring up at the screen with intense concentration.

"Ten minutes to initiation," she announced. A muttered "ok" sounded from everybody before they returned to work.

* * *

I looked around the room, making sure there were no more shakes before I turned to Mirana and asked to get out.

"One second. I need to ask my mom something," I said quickly before I briskly walked over to where my mom was, and tapped her on the shoulder.

As soon as I had her attention, I hissed, "Mom, I just noticed, but where's Lusana?" Lusana was my aunt. She was a little bit odd, but smart in a kind of "nerdy sci-fi" way. Somehow, it seemed, the small 'earthquake' had made me think of her.

My mom's eyes widened.

"Lusana? She said she was coming later—some big surprise." I groaned. Her surprises _always_ freaked out my friends.

"No hint?"

"Well…. I don't think it's going to be _too_ bad this year."

"But still bad…"

"That depends if you think it's bad or not," she whispered conspiratorially, smirking.

I rolled my eyes. "Wonderful," I said sarcastically.

Knowing I'd get no more helpful information from my mom, I headed back over to where my friends were, but noticed something was missing. I slowed down as I approached the table.

"Where are Valo and Mirana?" I asked Kikana, Mirana's twin sister.

Her reaction was too slow; instantly, I was uneasy. "Um, Valo and Mirana…? Well, Valo said he had to go the bathroom, and Mirana left right after that." She didn't look me in the eyes, which increased the uneasiness, plus as soon as she was done, she turned back to person she'd been talking too, acting as if I wasn't there.

"Okaaay, that was weird…" I muttered to myself. I turned away, exiting the room and heading down the hallway to the bathrooms. I was about to lean against the wall when I swear I heard something coming from a closed door. The sign on it said, 'Maintenance'. Just then, I heard Mirana's voice. Alarmed, I opened the door… and froze.

On the floor was Mirana. Above her was Valo. As soon as Mirana saw me, she stood up, quickly buttoning up her shirt.

"Kimiko, thank goodness you're here! Valo pushed me in here and started to unbutton my shirt!" Her relief was too obvious, though. I didn't believe her at all. Valo stood up as well, and as he turned towards me, I could instantly tell something was wrong. His eyes were blank; lifeless. I recognized the work of a spell.

"Mirana, what did you do?!" I shouted at her, horrified.

* * *

"Start countdown now! Thirty seconds!" Lusana typed in something, and suddenly the only things the screen showed was a giant three and zero, which soon changed to a two and nine.

"Twenty-nine, twenty-eight, twenty-seven…" Lusana whispered.

* * *

I slapped her, suddenly furious. My vision blurred as tears streamed down my face.

"How could you!?" I screamed at her. "How!?"

She glared at me, her eyes narrowed in defiance.

"How could I?" she hissed. "You don't deserve him, that's why! He's mine, Kimiko! I couldn't let you have him!"

I stared at her for a moment, my mouth open in surprise. Suddenly I gritted my teeth, more furious than ever.

"You IDIOT!" I slapped her again, harder this time. "I would never stoop so low as you! Take the spell off, now!"

She looked away, her cheek very red now. I noticed there were tears in her eyes as well. "I can't…" she whispered. "I don't know how!"

I raised my hand to hand to slap her again, feeling slightly guilty as I watched her flinch. Then I changed my mind. "Damn you, Mirana!" I hissed at her. "Fine! I'll do it myself!"

Lusana's hand hovered over the initiation button, her eyes still on the screen. "Ten… nine… eight…"

I closed my eyes, focusing on Valo. I could feel his mind with mine. In my mind it looked like it was covered with a glowing spider web. I almost stopped to hit Mirana again. She really was an idiot! The spell was sloppily done—now it was tangled. I started to cast the counter-spell, focusing on the 'knots'.

* * *

"ONE!"

* * *

Suddenly the room started to shake violently, objects falling on the floor and breaking. I could barely hear the noise—I was still too focused on my spell. Just as I finished untangling the first 'knot', a huge wave a magical energy hit me. But something went wrong. I was still casting the counter-spell, and instead of being caught up by the magical energy, it twisted with my own energy, causing a rip to appear.

* * *

The screens started to flash red.

"There's been a disturbance!" Somebody yelled from the other side of the room.

"I can see that!" Lusana hissed in reply, her head throbbing from all of the flashing red. "Dammit, this is bad! Somebody find out what happened NOW!"

Just then a siren started to wail.

* * *

My head throbbed painfully, and I fell to the ground holding it, screaming. I couldn't hear or feel anything else. The red throbbing in my head consumed it all. I could tell something was happening to my body—but I wasn't sure what. Despite the pain, I opened one eye. Something strange had happened to the Maintenance closet. I was surrounded an unearthly white glow, and something that looked like little black hands were wrapping around my leg. I screamed, trying to pull myself away.

"GET OFF!" I screamed. "GET OFF, GET OFF!"

I tried to grab onto something, but there was nothing to grab onto. With a final, desperate scream I was pulled all of the way into the void, and then suddenly, everything was completely black.

* * *

"Ma'am?"

"Yes, what is it?"

"We've lost contact with subject 12779, aka Kimiko. What are you orders?" Lusana was silent for a moment. She needed to take control. Her niece had just been sucked into some strange black hole, but that didn't mean she was dead. She mustn't give up. Lusana's eyes hardened, and a note of command came back into her voice.

"Start a search immediately! Check all records! Find what happened before subject 12779 disappeared!"

Immediately the alarms were stopped. People furiously started searching through the travel logs, trying to unravel the mystery behind Kimiko's disappearance.

* * *

I could hear my breath rasping in and out through my lips. I was terrified. How could I not be? I could tell I was on my hands and knees—it felt like I was on a hard surface of some sort. I stood up slowly, hoping my eyes would adjust.

For about fifteen minutes I stood in the same place, trying to catch a glimpse of _something_. But there was nothing to be seen. I almost lost control when I realized that, but somehow I managed to keep myself calm.

"Okay, Kimiko," I said out loud to myself, feeling like an idiot. "Think about how you got here…." I closed my eyes, something I did out of habit when trying to remember something.

Almost instantly I remembered Mirana's betrayal. Frightened as I was, remembering it twisted my heart with pain. Mirana, somebody I had trusted for _years_ as my best friend had cast an idiotic spell on Valo because she wanted to get to him first. I gritted my teeth, forcing myself to think about more important things. _The spell… what happened, exactly?_ Something had interrupted me; another spell, perhaps? But who had cast it? It couldn't have been Mirana. Whatever had hit me was something way beyond what me or Mirana could do. Something about it had been familiar though. I growled out loud after a moment, frustrated. 'On the tip of my tongue' was the expression it made me think of.

That's when I noticed _it_.

Hardly believing what I was seeing, I walked towards it instinctively. It was a child; a glowing child. "How….?" I whispered. I walked up to it and looked down, and it looked up at me.

"Hello," a pleasant voice said, adult voice said. Of course, I had been expecting nothing of the sort. I fell on my bottom almost comically, yelping in surprise. I could swear it was giggling. After a moment, I stood up, glaring at down at glowing child.

"Where am I?" I demanded, sparing no niceties on this strange being. At least it stopped giggling.

"I'll tell you… if you tell me something first."

I narrowed my eyes. It was going to be a game, was it? Fine, I'd play it.

"What do you want me to tell you?" I asked after a moment.

"What's your name?"

I recoiled in surprise. I hadn't been expecting that.

"Um, Kimiko. Kimiko Otakuwa."

"Then you're who I need!" It giggled, clapping its glowing hands together in delight.

"What do---"I was interrupted as the darkness suddenly disappeared to be replaced by blinding whiteness. I screamed in pain, covering my eyes.

"Welcome to the Gate!" I heard it say.

I waited for a few moments before opening one eye very, very slowly. Then I saw it, and my eyes flew open all of the way, my mouth falling open in surprise. "What in Nekira's name…."

Above me loomed a huge gate decorated with statues of what looked like laughing children. The gate itself was two huge doors with what looked like a giant Egyptian eye. The glowing child has disappeared, leaving me to stare at the gate all by myself. Curious, I walked up the door, laying on hand on it. It felt cool like granite or stone, or something similar to the two. It was almost solid, except for a break in the middle. I was about to touch the break when suddenly a creaking sound echoed around me. I stepped back, my face frozen into a mask of surprise as the break got larger, the two doors of the gate swinging open to reveal a giant purple eye staring down at me.

I stared back at it, confused, when more eyes suddenly started to appear, and I could hear giggling coming from the blackness with the eyes in it. With horror I recognized the 'faces' of the hands that'd pulled me into here in the first place, and turned to run. I wasn't quick enough.

I fell onto the ground as something twisted around my leg and yanked me backwards, letting out a scream. The same little black hands as before appeared, wrapping me up like a cocoon, with me screaming the whole time. Once again I was dragged into the blackness, but this time it was different.

Suddenly, I was falling.

At first I was too stunned to scream. I was falling at what appeared to be Earth. I recognized it from satellite pictures, but unlike the pictures, this was ten times more beautiful. I didn't even try to guess how I was still alive without a space suit or the fact that I was falling amazingly fast towards the glowing blue atmosphere of the planet. I started to build up a scream as I came closer and closer the atmosphere, but amazingly passed through it without a problem. But as soon as I was through, the sound of rushing air filled my head and chilled me to the bone, and then I did scream.

I closed my eyes tightly, hoping that somehow this was all a dream. No such luck. The wind didn't stop, but I did get a little bit warmer as I got closer and closer to the planet's surface. I was soon caught up in another predicament, however. I was falling towards land, with no bodies of water in sight. I almost felt like saying, "Goodbye, cruel world," but knew saying such a thing wouldn't do anything for me. So with a final prayer to my god, I closed my eyes and said my heartfelt goodbye to my family.

Everything suddenly stopped, and my world became black.

* * *

I hope you didn't find it too cheesy. I'm trying to be more original this time around... ^^;


End file.
